3804 replies to this topic

[Jackerbie]

Not sure where to post this, but the tiny old orange building between Yates Street Coffee Bar and the Interactivity Board Game Cafe (formerly a secondary pop-up location for The Patch) is undergoing major renovations. The entire front ground floor door and windows as well as the entire back wall have been removed. The interior has been gutted and interior brickwork (formerly covered by drywall) has been exposed. 

If I recall correctly there was a proposal about a year ago to add 1 or 2 floors and create residential units but I haven't heard anything since. Is this underway now or is it just a ground floor renovation?

 

Yup, the BPs for interior strip out, facade restoration, and addition of two floors were only just issued in September

[Jackerbie]

It looks like the Bank Street School is going to be redeveloped.

From South Jubilee Neighbourhood Association:

Development Update re Bank Street School
We received a letter, 25 June 2020, from the District Associate Superintendent of the School District informing us that they are delaying the opening of Sundance as an SD61 elementary school until September 2021 due to the pandemic. They are planning to change the property at Bank St & Leighton to increase enrolment capacity by either demolishing or renovating the building. Currently there is no time line in place.

We have been informed that the current tenant of the Bank Street School, the Victoria College of Art is leaving those premises and the resident caretaker has been asked to move out. This venue has been used by the SJNA for more than 20 years, serving as a meeting place and for recycle, as well as other neighbourhood activities. Concerns expressed that the SJNA is not being engaged in any consultation with the School District about the possible renovation/demolition of this building. Residents are also concerned that if the building is left empty for a long period of time, it could be vandalized and become an unattractive safety hazard.

 

Staff report on the proposed demolition went to Heritage Advisory Committee last week, should be heading to Council in November I think. Future plans include expansion of Sundance Elementary to accommodate 170 students, plus space for a "Neighbourhood Learning Centre" and childcare facility. PDF report is here: https://www.victoria...reet Report.pdf

Edited by Jackerbie, 14 October 2020 - 01:21 PM.

[Rob Randall]

Tearing that building down is insane. It is basically all original. It needs work, yes, but this plays right into aastra's theme on how we obsess over insignificant heritage and ignore restorations that should be a slam dunk.

 

Surely there's a case to be made for a small specialized six classroom school in this region. 

 

It's essentially the Vic High discussion on a smaller scale. In that case, demolishing VH wasn't an option so why is it even being discussed here?

[aastra]

Yeah, it makes me sick. Another defining old neighbourhood building is going to bite the dust.

 

Insensitive big-city Vancouver preserves this stuff, whereas sensitive small-city Victoria wipes it out aggressively. And then pats itself on the back for caring while it does it.

[Rob Randall]

It reminds me of the School Board decision to destroy the dazzle mural on the old VISA school at Quadra near Bay. Here's an organization supposedly in the business of teaching children about art and culture and every opportunity they get to put that theory into practice they start scheduling the bulldozers.

[aastra]

For its size, Victoria was very over-endowed with old architectural character. Victorians don't demolish with any less fervor than any other place (I'd say they do it with a fair bit more fervor than average), but because the inventory was so great the damage didn't seem so glaring.

 

North Ward school? Who would miss it?

Vic West school? Victoria is full of old school buildings.

Sir James Douglas? Victoria is full of old school buildings.

The old block at the Jubilee Hospital? You can't renovate old hospital buildings (in Victoria... but anywhere else you can)

The catholic school on Pandora? The new building will have brick veneer so it's all good.

The church across the street from Sir James Douglas? Progress is progress.

Bank Street school? It's just one old building. What's the big deal?

etc.

etc.

etc.

[Rob Randall]

I mean, it's a huge piece of property. Carve off the Bank St. School and sell it off for a condo conversion. Demolition shouldn't even be on the table.

[aastra]

A bit of residential development would surely ruin the residential neighbourhood.

[Rob Randall]

Yes, better to demolish the school than let wealthy landowners take over and desecrate that irreplaceable heritage building.

[aastra]

Bank Street school or the old brick church in Oak Bay or the now demolished Fairfield church are those kinds of neighbourhood character buildings that you love to discover when you're exploring a place. If you continue to wipe them out then eventually you won't have any left (especially since building new neighbourhood character buildings is not allowed).

 

Like I've said many times, Victoria can be such a fraud of a place re: preservation. The boasting and self-congratulation (the politics of preservation) are completely hollow.

[aastra]

Need I mention this again?

 

 

In Victoria a tiny 1920s building like this one in Windsor would be knocked down without a second thought. You'd get laughed at for suggesting it was worth spending any money to save it, let alone close to $6 million*. But in Ontario it's heritage.

 

Pic of how it looked before renovation...

 

Just imagine what could have been done with the Fairfield church (restoration/renovation of the old building + new construction next door to make it feasible).

Windsor, Ontario Sandwich Fire Hall/Public Library project...

[Rob Randall]

 If you continue to wipe them out then eventually you won't have any left (especially since building new neighbourhood character buildings is not allowed)

 

Case in point; the old modernist Jehovah's Witness church on Shelbourne and Ryan was demolished and replaced by something that was intended to "blend" into the neighbourhood: a silly giant house-like structure.

 

You see it all the time. A neighbourhood of diverse architecture is forced to transform to become a district of single-family homes and bloated buildings that simulate them.

[aastra]

That's true, the older exceptional things gradually get removed, and new exceptional things are not allowed to be built.

[Rob Randall]

Here's another one. Charming neighbourhood corner store becomes vaguely house-like commercial building of undertermined purpose. But it blends in! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

 

[Jackerbie]

I mean, it's a huge piece of property. Carve off the Bank St. School and sell it off for a condo conversion. Demolition shouldn't even be on the table.

 

This was done in Kelowna. Rutland Elementary (built 1912) was refurbed as part of a larger 130 unit project.

 

[Rob Randall]

^See, we can't do a project like that in Victoria because we have a glut of old heritage already. Or is it because we have none left? One of those, anyway.

[Jackerbie]

^See, we can't do a project like that in Victoria because we have a glut of old heritage already. Or is it because we have none left? One of those, anyway.

 

Heck, it's being done right now in Saanich! Just came across the application for Cedar Hill School, I'll post it in the Non-Victoria Construction thread

[aastra]

I noted a long time ago in another thread that Hamilton was doing old school conversions like crazy. Must have been in the Vic High thread.

[aastra]

 

I noted a long time ago in another thread that Hamilton was doing old school conversions like crazy. Must have been in the Vic High thread.

 

Or maybe it was only two years ago in the general heritage thread.

[aastra]

 

Yes, better to demolish the school than let wealthy landowners take over and desecrate that irreplaceable heritage building.

 

It's the same as the Fairfield church. It should have been automatic, to encourage & enable a larger residential building next door but conditional to saving the church.

 

But that's not allowed, because the larger residential building would threaten the neighbourhood character. So instead the old building gets demolished, in order to defend and preserve the neighbourhood character.